Favorite Albums of the Decade: 30-21

Day 3 of my favorite albums of the decade is here, with the final 30 coming in the next three days. Before we start that, a recap of the list so far (you can see 50 through 41 here and 40 through 31 here):

50. Andrew WK - I Get Wet
49. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
48. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
47. Badly Drawn Boy - About a Boy Soundtrack
46. Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
45. M.I.A. - Kala
44. of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
43. Hot Hot Heat - Elevator
42. The Stills - Without Feathers
41. Cake - Comfort Eagle
40. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
39. The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
38. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
37. The 88 - Over and Over
36. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
35. Muse - Absolution
34. Cursive - The Ugly Organ
33. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
32. Phantom Planet - The Guest
31. Air - Talkie Walkie

30. Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground - Self Titled (2008)

Recommended Track: Simon Courage Flees the Coop

Why I Love It: Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground rose from the ashes from my once upon a time favorite band Gatsby's American Dream, as it was fronted by one time Gatsby's bassist Kirk Huffman and also featured keyboardist Kyle O'Quinn, yet it did not feature really any of the technical rock brilliance that made Gatsby's such a great band. This band was an entirely different animal, channeling Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band and psychedelia into modern day indie rock to create a sound that was altogether unique and original in its own right. Their self titled debut featured a dense and beautiful instrumental sound (it better, given the fact they have roughly 1/5th the population of Washington state in their band) and Huffman's smooth vocals, and it blew me away. It maintains itself as one of the most obscure of gems from this decade, but I think one day they'll find their audience outside of the Pacific Northwest.


29. Gorillaz - Self Titled (2001)

Recommended Track: Slow Country

Why I Love It: This album reminds me of driving around in high school with my best friends, being alternately entertained by their more popular songs such as "Clint Eastwood" or "19-2000" while marveling in the creepy cool of "M1A1" or the monstrous relaxation powers of "Slow Country." This album could easily have been just a gimmick (it's a band fronted four cartoon characters!), but heavily featured on this album is all of Damon Albarn's musical prowess and Dan the Automator's incredible production. Individually, their powers would assure a project success. Together? They make something special, as this album clearly demonstrated.


28. Passion Pit - Manners (2009)

Recommended Track: The Reeling

Why I Love It: This album only came out this year, but any album that cause me to immediately text my friend and say "it's like they made this album specifically for me!" has to be a strong contender for one of my favorite albums. This album is all soaring vocals, delicious synth, clap along beats, and unforgettable hooks, and really, that's about as good of a recipe for "David music" that you could possibly come up with. Perpetually exciting, energetic, and dance party inducing, this album is assured a place in my rotation well into the next decade.


27. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

Recommended Track: Everything In Its Right Place

Why I Love It: After seeing massive success with The Bends and OK Computer, Radiohead effectively abandoned their more straightforward rock sound to adopt the sound of the future. More keyboards, more electronic production, more post-modern glances at what the future of music could be like. Before this album, no one had so successfully adopted this type of production and such intense focus on textures and depth of sound, and it is something that has obviously affected many artists since. Even without the pioneer nature of this album, this is one that is filled with every bit of the Radiohead songwriting talent that we'd come to expect, and in many ways surpassed even OK Computer as Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and the rest clearly were not fearful to adventure as far as their sound could take them on this album. Completely brilliant, and a great marker for where music was going to go in the decade that followed it.

Bonus points for "Everything in its Right Place" being one of the single coolest performances of any song I've ever seen live. When I saw them, they closed their encore with it and it ended up being Jonny Greenwood with a series of pedals remixing the song live with all of the instruments looped through and controlled by him. Brilliant.


26. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar (2006)

Recommended Track: Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)

Why I Love It: Zach Condon is a talent that is about as surprising as you can find. Here is this 20 year old kid from Albequerque who releases an indie rock album positively buried in Balkan musical influences in which he plays anything you can think of: guitar, accordion, trumpet, mandolin, ukulele...everything. This kid is just massively talented. Not only that, but he is blessed with one of the most unique voices in music today and a nearly unparalleled songwriting ability. This was his stunning first release and it is as filled with sweeping emotions that you would expect from someone of his age. The fact that he managed to imbue it with such genuine feeling and such a unique sound really solidifies him as one of the most exciting young talents in music today.


25. Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things (2002)

Recommended Track: My Slumbering Heart

Why I Love It: "You don't like girls!" my mom says hysterically. We're talking about music and how I'm not a big fan of female lead singers, but her phrasing leaves something to desire. It turns out that I actually like both girls (in general) and girls (lead singer varieties). Especially when it comes to Jenny Lewis, the lead singer of Rilo Kiley, who combines with guitarist and occasional singer Blake Sennett to form one of the best songwriting duos in music (as long as it isn't on Under the Blacklight). This album finds them at their best, pairing occasionally dark subject matters with atypically sunny presentation, as they brilliantly hide the lyrical weight in jangly guitars and simple and beautiful melodies created by Lewis. Not bad from the kids from Troop Beverly Hills and Salute Your Shorts.


24. Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanists (2009)

Recommended Track: The Home

Why I Love It: Portugal. The Man automatically get bonus points for being from Alaska, but really, that doesn't matter when it comes to this album. While previous albums featured elements of brilliance but ultimately fell off because a few tracks that were a bit weaker or because they simply did not stand up to the test of time as well, this one combined all of the strengths of their first three albums and removed the negatives. It's as if John Gourley and his brethren made a pros and cons list of their sound and simply crossed off the cons. This album highlights Gourley's beautiful vocals, which occasionally touch on falsetto but never egregiously so. They do this by focusing their sound more towards a pop influenced version of their funk groove sound, targeting melody and rhythm over their more surprising sound of the past.

Some would say it's less challenging than their older albums, I'd say it is similar to what Animal Collective did with Merriweather Post Pavilion: the distillation of their sound to focus on the elements that work the best. After many spins of this album, it's hard to argue that their decision was the wrong one.


23. The Thermals - Now We Can See (2009)

Recommended Track: How We Fade

Why I Love It: The Thermals have long been a band that I've enjoyed but never one where I ever sat down with an album, listened to it all the way through and thought "man, I loved every second of that." Well, that is until this album, in which we found them tightening up their sound a bit and focusing more on production and songwriting. Tying into a theme that Hutch himself described as "The Thermals Guide to Better Dying" (or at least I coerced him into that one), this album packs their typical lyrical power into an album full of tracks that rival the power of personal favorite "Returning from the Fold" (from their album The Body, The Blood, The Machine). It's like a greatest hits all on one new album from of the Pacific Northwest's best bands.


22. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)

Recommended Track: In the Morning of the Magicians

Why I Love It: The Flaming Lips are really a magical band. There are not a lot of other ways to describe them, as their sound is so unique and uplifting and spiritual in ways that typical phrasing does not describe them that well. This album finds Wayne Coyne and the rest harnessing their sound into their most infectious and often beautiful album yet, creating the theme song of Oklahoma and my life simultaneously. This album is almost the musical manifestation of John Michael Higgins character on Community tonight, as if with every passing track Coyne is telling us to live life to its fullest. When I'm listening to this album, I don't really see any reason why that isn't possible.


21. The Killers - Hot Fuss (2004)

Recommended Track: All These Things That I've Done

Why I Love It: The Killers?! What are they doing here?! I must have made a mistake! Okay, maybe I didn't. Under the bravado, before the terrible follow up albums, and even if you say they're unoriginal and deriviative, I will say this: they write some damn catchy tunes. This album was entrenched in my CD player for quite some time and still is an album that can get me to effortlessly sing along to in no time flat. Sure, they may be all of the negative things you think they are, but it is impossible to deny that this album is infectious beyond words and possibly the single best popular album to be released this decade.

Favorite Live Performances

To continue Sheri and I's ongoing weekly venture in making lists of our favorite things, and then linking to each other for comparisons sake, this week we have favorite live performances. Per usual, we have specific rules: must be single live performance (not live band or live show, just live performance), must be actually seen live (no BS including DVD watching...bad form), and if the best performance happens to be by a band you don't like in particular. Well...that's tough. It's not favorite band, it's favorite performance.

With that said, below are links that take you to Sheri's blog and previous lists, and then after that it's on with the show!

Sheri's blog
Favorite foods
Favorite albums
Favorite movies

1. Andrew WK at Club Soda in Spokane, WA (some time in late 2002...)

This was the very first show I attended after getting to college, and it was the first road trip I took to attend a show as well. At this point Andrew WK is a bit of an afterthought, as after the Wolf I lost pretty much all interest. But at the time, when he was all about two things (partying and rocking for clarification) my friends and I absolutely loved the guyb. We had to go!.

Why was this show so great? It was all about fun and having a great time at a show, as WK was pretty much the emcee of one of the best parties I'd ever been to. The security at the show had absolutely no control, and it was just the way WK wanted it to be as he went from not caring if people were on stage at the beginning of the set to encouraging people to join him at the end.

Examples of awesome things that happened: my buddy Colver and I sat on stage for 3/4ths of the set right in front of WK and sang the chorus to "She is Beautiful," I hugged WK (in a life affirming "we are bros for life!" sort of way), and during the final song the stage was loaded with no less than 20 people, including a kid sitting on top of WK's shoulders as he belted out the chorus, and the whole thing culminated with WK running at the audience and the kid diving off him into their loving arms.

Incredible. The most fun I have, and likely ever will have, ever had at any concert. Pure, unadultered joy for an hour plus.

2. Radiohead at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn, Washington (August 31st, 2003)

I think any time you see a band like Radiohead, they get an extra oomph to their performance that you get from few other bands. You just find yourself watching and looking around at everyone else, and you catch yourself thinking about how incredible this experience is. I attended this with my friend Marc, his twin brother Jeff, and our friend Morgan, and their set unified the audience in a way few artists I've ever seen before or after have done.

The picture above isn't from my show, but it's very similar in design as there were monitors all over the stage for us to watch the band in close up. By far the most entertaining was Thom Yorke, as he had tons of fun with the cameras while playing the piano and singing. It was a spectacle and a half, but nothing could top the showstopper that was the second encore.

To the roar of the crowd, they came out and belted out two personal favorites ("No Surprises" and "Everything in it's Right Place") and a third song that was just Thom by himself. As great as the other two were, finisher "Right Place" was the best song I've ever seen performed live. The best part was Jonny Greenwood staying out for an extra 5 minutes after everyone else had left, just jamming on the guitar and using his pedals to create a wall of sound like only he can.

One of the most expensive concerts I've ever been to, but it was worth every penny.

3. Gatsby's American Dream at Neckbeard's in Tempe, Arizona (March 13th, 2005)

This is one of my favorite bands all-time, and it was the first of two times I had seen them. Why was it so special, besides the fact that it was a favorite band playing favorite songs? First off, there is the added plus of meeting Nic Newsham (lead singer) and him giving me a shirt, a DVD, and stickers after the set for free (because I'm such a big fan).

Second off, and most importantly, when talking to him before the set I asked if they were going to play my favorite track, "Apparition." He said he wasn't sure, but he'd see what he could do. During their set (which was stellar, full of tons of energy and near album quality sound) Nic walks around, talks to the rest of the band, turns to the audience and looks directly at me and says "this one is for this guy, this is Apparition."

Hell yes. If this isn't proof that I am susceptible to bribes, I don't know what it is. However, it was the best performance by a favorite band, and one of the best I've ever seen. Hard not to rank it this high, bribery or not.

4. Art Brut at the KEXP Stage at Bumbershoot in Seattle, Washington (September 2nd, 2007)

I go into great detail about this bad boy here, but I'll give you a brief synopsis as to why this is one of the best performances I've ever seen: Eddie Argos (lead singer), 20 songs in 50 minutes, mid-song medleys of pop hits like "99 Problems" and "Hollaback Girl," coordinated movements, and hilarious interactions with the audience.

I didn't like this band before seeing them live. Afterwards, they had earned themselves a fan for life. Plus Eddie Argos bought me a PBR later that night, which is another really good way to bribe me (pay attention bands). See this band if they come anywhere near you, even if you haven't heard them or don't like them. You won't regret it.

5. (tie) Girl Talk at the Roseland Theater, the Thermals at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon (September 8th, 2007)

This is kind of cheating, but I saw these shows consecutively (one at 11 pm, the other at 12 am) last year at Musicfest NW in Portland, and if that wasn't the most fun night of shows I'd had since Andrew WK, I don't know what was. Here is an extensive breakdown, but I'll go into a bit of detail as to why they were so great.

Girl Talk's set was just Gregg Gillis jumping down with the audience and throwing together the best dance party ever, impromptu right in the crowd. I happened to be right up front behind the security line, and I was up there dancing my feet off with everyone else. It was sweaty, it was memorable, and it was one of the best spur of the moment show experiences I've ever had.

The Thermals on the other hand was awesome for a different reason: it was just a band going up on stage and rocking very, very hard. Sheri and I went to this show together, and it was just 45 minutes straight of pure energy and fun, as we jumped along to the beat, danced in the crowd, and moshed with the cool people at the Crystal Ballroom. The Thermals brought a ton of energy to the audience, and we reciprocated. Sheri described it like so: "It felt like being in high school again." That sums it up well. Those two alone made Musicfest NW worth the trip.

6. Moneen at the Graceland (now El Corazon) in Seattle, Washington (February 14th, 2004)

The first of two openers for Finch who actually outperformed the headliner, this band was one I wasn't that into before seeing them but I became very into afterwards. I can say unequivocally that this band brings more energy than any band out there. They are bundles of fun and energy, and they just had fantastic rapport with the audience as well. They actually made the headliners feel like a letdown, and made me just want to see more Moneen.

I tried finding video example as to why they rocked so hard, but YouTube failed me. Either that, or this band is one of those "you had to be there" types. They thrive off energy and singing along, and seeing them live I know that. Check them out if they come by, as they are a blast to see.

7. The Movielife at B Complex in Portland, Oregon (February 26th, 2003)

Number two of two in "bands that opened for Finch but outperformed them." I had never liked the Movielife before seeing them live either (common theme, eh?), but their performance changed everything for me. From the beginning where they had someone from the crowd announce their arrival to the stage with the Pixies "Where is my mind?" playing, and then the lights turning on with the whole band starting the first song simultaneously, I knew this was an incredible live band.

Vinnie Caruana to this day is still one of the best lead singers I've ever seen, even though he isn't a "good singer," his presence and crowd interactions were top notch. He hit the notes he needed to and he made sure the show was fun. This is too bad of course, because shortly thereafter the Movielife broke up and I never had a chance to see them after I had discovered that I loved their music. I guess at least I get to keep that memory intact in my mind.

8. Neil Diamond at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska (Some time in 1999...)

Look at that guy up there. That man is mantastic. How could you not love him?

Truth be told, I was forced to go to this show by my parents, and I can't even tell you how thankful I am to this day that they did. Neil Diamond was up on a rotating stage by himself (unless you include his chest hair/necklace as separate entities, which I may) and he was the consumate performer. He was genius, in the way only such a classic artist could be. I didn't need to love his music, I just needed to see him perform.

The man is the biggest rock star I've ever seen.

9. Taking Back Sunday at B Complex in Portland, Oregon (April 12th, 2003)

I've seen Taking Back Sunday more than any band besides one, but to this day the first time I saw them is still the best time. It was the only time I saw them with their Tell All Your Friends lineup, with John Nolan and Shaun Cooper still being in the band. The presentation of the show was very top notch for a small venue show, as they had set up chinese lanterns along the stage and above the audience that gave a great feel to the show.

Not to overuse this word, but it's really my favorite trait of performers: this band is pure energy. Adam Lazzara (the lead singer) is all over the place during sets, especially spinning his mic all over the place and climbing on any and every object he can get his arms and legs on. This was before they had released either of their two later, lesser albums, so it was all b-sides and Tell All Your Friends, and they played the album in its entirety.

They finished with "Ghost Man on Third," which at first glance seems a bit strange, but when you see Adam hanging from the pipes that dangled from the ceiling singing "this is what living like this does" as John screams along, you realize that the show could end in no other way. It's still really too bad that those two left the band, because they are a good band that could have been great.

10. AFI at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, Washington (October 19th, 2003)

This set was slightly devalued later on when I saw them in December of the same year and they performed pretty much the exact same set, but it not by a lot. I was hugely into this band at the time, as they had just released their album Sing the Sorrow earlier that summer. That was the first album that got me into this band, as I was never a fan of their straight forward punk material.

No less, this show was one of the more intense ones I'd ever seen, as metal stalwarts Poison the Well opened and were pretty insane, which led in perfectly to AFI's controlled chaos. There were pyrotechnics, insane circle pits, Colver and I holding up Davey Havok in the audience as he screamed along to "God Called in Sick Today," and four very effeminate looking men rocking about as hard as any band can.

Sure, it was very planned and slickly coordinated, but at the time I didn't realize it. I just knew I loved every second of it.

The Next 10
11. The Offspring at the Egan Center in Anchorage, Alaska
12. The Shins at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington
13. Jet at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington
14. Bedouin Soundclash at the Gorge in Quincy, Washington
15. Death Cab for Cutie at the SUB Ballroom in Moscow, Idaho
16. Ben Folds at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho
17. Flogging Moly at the SUB Ballroom in Moscow, Idaho
18. The Killers at the Big Easy in Spokane, Washington
19. The Frames at the KEXP Stage at Bumbershoot in Seattle, Washington
20. Suburban Legends at Neckbeard's in Tempe, Arizona

In Rainbows

Radiohead

As many of you have likely heard (considering it has made most every form of news, from every blog in the world to the Anchorage Daily News), Radiohead released a new album yesterday. Typically, this would be a big deal for music aficionados as the band is simply one of the best out there, and even those who are not big fans of their music likely respect them for their clear talent and their longevity. However, what makes this a far larger (the word epic has been bandied about, and god knows people don't use that lightly) happening than a simple album release is the distribution method.

This album was only released online.

It was only announced 10 days before its release.

You can pay whatever you want for the album.

Also, when I say whatever you want, I mean literally whatever you want. I love the band, but I am also cheap. Apparently my cheap side overcame the love side, and I paid $0.00.

For a band that is well known for making rather bold statements (ask them about Bush's Presidency - I dare you), this may have been their boldest. From a Marketing and Distribution standpoint, this single move may have revolutionized the music industry. Some would argue this type of movement of music is the future. The band is without a label, they released it entirely on their own through their own site, and they did not go out and interview about the album or hype it or anything. They simply announced it and let the hype grow organically. Or as organically as something on the Internet can grow.

The point is, this single album could force the changing of the tides from CD to digital music once and for all. A band like Radiohead doing this proves the viability of this type of venture, but only if it is a success. Which by every indication so far, it is. Now you are probably wondering, why would a band willingly take money out of their pockets by doing something like this? Well, they did not take a whole lot out, as removing the record label from the equation means that all money earned from sales of their album is in fact earned. Instead of taking in something like 10 cents on every dollar, they are earning a dollar on every dollar. Even if half of every "purchaser" pays nothing, they will likely still be earning five times as much as they would with a label.

Outside of that, the ability to pick up the album for free could easily create a new generation of Radiohead fans, catapulting the band to even higher stratospheres of popularity than before, allowing them to build on their already high revenue on merchandise and ticket sales.

I'm sure this move terrifies record label executives, as it could easily be a change of direction to a new future for the entire industry. Already, Trent Reznor (aka Nine Inch Nails for all intents and purposes) has abandoned his label, citing the need to get away from the current form of the music label. Will he do the same thing that Radiohead did? I would not be the least bit surprised, nor would I be surprised if he wasn't the first of many.

So that is enough of that, everyone knows the current issues with rapidly decreasing CD market and the increase in alternative distribution. This just happens to be an extreme case that happened with a far more high visibility band.

The main question now that the album has been released and the hype has subsided a bit is...is it any good?

Well, it isn't going to reinvent the wheel. If you like Radiohead, you'll like the album. This is their 7th full length album, if you didn't like any of the other albums, you probably will not change with this one. It is a very good Radiohead album, and I would probably put it as my fourth favorite after about 5 listens, behind OK Computer, Amnesiac, and Kid A, but ahead of Pablo Honey, Hail to the Thief, and the Bends. It is a very relaxing album, and sort of feels like an amalgam of every album they've made (besides Hail). Each of their albums had very individualistic feels, and this one is the first one that feels as if it smashes it all together into a big Radiohead album. It has raw instrumentation, electronic effects, distortion, ambient vocals. Yep. It's a Radiohead album.

It is by no means a fun album, nor is it exactly radio or driving music. But if you are the type of person who listens to music while studying, reading, or surfing the Internet, this is a great zone out album to put your cares away to. Especially the track "House of Cards." That is a particularly good one. Although someone else needs to listen to "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and tell me why that reminds me so much of "Hotel California." Why does it sound so much like it?!

Anyways, this was a very random posting by me, I just find the idea of Radiohead releasing a free album online that is actually very good to be extremely cool. Check it out. Why not? It's free, and that is a price no one can deny. Or pay money, so I can feel a bit better about the fact I paid nothing. Either way, get on that!